Schmeichel expects Modric, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid and led Croatia to the final of the World Cup, to edge out his rivals and claim the award, as he did for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award which was announced last week.

“Luka Modric was so incredibly good in every department of how you have to judge a good player,” the Danish ex-goalkeeper said.

“First of all his history is incredible. The story that he can tell from when he was a young kid and what he has done with his football career, it makes him an interesting guy.

“But what he did in the World Cup, together with the coach and his teammates, in producing this amazing result for Croatia is just incredible.

“He was scoring goals, he was creating goals, he was fighting. He was just an incredible player in that period.”